6.03.2013

A Faller-inspired Kit-bash (Part 2)

Painting! And some pretty boring process pictures that will hopefully explain more than me having to write about what is really a fairly boring and time consuming part of the building process!

Well, anyway, the top photo and the one below show the first color that I used for the facade sections - which was Tamiya AS-8 "Navy Blue" - and is clearly way too dark.

The photo below shows the completed silver 'window frames' that I masked with Tamiya 6mm masking tape. Applying the silver paint (actually, Model Master 1451 "Aluminum Plate") in several very light coats helps to minimize bleed-through. On top of these the plastic facade sections will be glued.

I then resprayed these sections with a lighter, greyer color; Tamiya AS-19 "Intermediate Blue". Although it looks not-at-all 'blue' in the below photo (!), I think it did turn out to be a better color!

While the facade sections (which are the original 'blue pieces' salvaged from the original 2293 kit) now look about ready to start applying, more work is needed on the windows. Not very visible in these photos are the cuts in the acrylic sheet I made to create different sections for the windows. I don't know how to explain it better, but I think it will be apparent on my next post!

What I did decide to do was to put down some black paint on the opposite side of the silver window frames. There are two reasons (maybe more) for this: I did not want to put masking tape across the silver paint as I am concerned the tape will lift some or all of the silver paint off the acrylic. Second is that I think the effect of the opaque, black window section will look better on the back side of the acrylic, and will look a lot like many modern buildings do (which don't tend to be full glass from floor to ceiling).

Again, several light passes with the black paint....

Until at last it seems that the color is on thick enough and opaque enought. After the tape is removed, this is what I have left:

I think once the blue sections are applied this building will start to take on something of its final look. I am wondering if this building will resemble its inspiration more than did my original attempt! Hopefully the next post will have photos with a clear idea of what I am getting into!

Baron - I'm using acrylic that is about 1/8 thick, so yes, VERY thick at 1:160 scale! My expectation is that you won't really see or notice how thick it is for the most part. It can't be too thin since it needs to be rigid, which limits the options!

About Me

I'm into N Scale to have fun. Growing up my Dad was really big into HO (U.S.A. of course, mostly Western U.S. roads like Great Northern, Milwaukee Road, Northern Pacific, etc...) and he built me a small N Scale layout which I enjoyed as a small boy. Of the various trains I had at the time, the brand 'Minitrix' stuck in my head. As the years passed, N Scale was forgotten as new interests took my time.
As a new parent, I got back into model trains through O Gauge (Lionel and MTH). However, the cost of this scale, and the space needed for the sort of layout I wanted, made it a very frustrating hobby. Then one day at a hobby shop in California, I came across the Trix 2003 catalog; Inside this catalog were beautiful models of trains across Europe shown on beautiful layouts - and I was converted! It took a few years, but most of the O Gauge was sold (or stored) and I used the funds to start my new fantasy in N Scale.
Soon, I also discovered the amazing trains of Japan in N Scale, and begin my quest to build an interesting urban layout in a complete fantasy setting where the great trains of the world can run side by side!